I remember back from my college days seeing Factiva and a variety of research providers on our library network; it was interesting. I didn’t use them often though, as I just went through the assigned case studies and looked up 10ks, 10qs, and used Yahoo Finance among other sources (in research, one fact/clue always leads to another!).
Two years ago, I managed a SalesForce.com trial and implementation plan at a former position and got to learn of the possibilities of bringing in subscribed content/functionality with third party providers. The connection? Well, not something so astonishing…but interesting in its own Zen reality of the marketplace and current situation. I typed in an old Factiva link from an older book of mine on Competitive Intelligence, and I’m brought to this page…which led me to explore more. So yes with CRM and other enterprise systems, the whole “Intelligence and Research” at your fingertips for a nominal subscription plan package is available. All ready and available as a module into whatever kind of process you’re using.
Seems so powerful and liberating a service…..whoah ahhhhh. Yet I know from my dirty research methods (they’re really clean…I just like to think crafty), and one of my friends is that the value of intelligence is highly variable on the context and need. “How much is enough?” is another story, but great research is a challenge. And with learning the various tools and gaining experience, we can reduce cycle-time and become more productive and responsive to data -> intelligence requests.
In all, since I love the power of information to help people become educated and do better work, I think it’s just awesome that such data services like Factiva and others (Wikipedia too!) exist to the extent they do…even if a lot of it is just quick company profiling 
Upon noticing that you’ve come back to my blog or have visited multiple pages, can I say one thing? YOU ROCK!
Remember to leave a comment and let your voice be heard! People love ‘em, I can’t be the only one talking…Conversation is where the magic is.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the Factiva mention. Guess what? I am one of the lucky ones and my job at Factiva Dow Jones is to actually do all the Integration of content into the users’ workflow. i have over the years worked on some pretty amazing content integration projects way beyond company profiling- some that i wouldn’t even had thought up myself!
great blog you have here i just added to my collection!
Thanks for stopping by Daniela! It’s nice to be able to hear how it is from the front-lines, and that it’s not just all profiling. The advantage with Factiva is its diverse partnerships and content reach in bringing in data sources that are valuable for a variety of purposes….beyond the stereotypical company profiling